School lunches, vending options seem headed for an overhaul in Mass.

Amanda Fakhreddine

Friday

Jan 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 29, 2010 at 4:00 AM

A school nutrition bill passed by the state House on Thursday would require public schools to serve healthier meals to students, and to overhaul vending options. The proposal received overwhelming support – the vote was 152-4 – and now heads to the Senate.

The days of Sloppy Joes at the school lunch table appear numbered.

A school nutrition bill passed by the House on Thursday would require public schools to serve healthier meals to students, and to overhaul vending options. The proposal received overwhelming support – the vote was 152-4 – and now heads to the Senate.

The measure would ban candy and sodas from vending machines on school property and encourage the sale of “non-fried fruits or vegetables, whole grains, nonfat and low-fat dairy products” instead. Any foods with more than 35 percent of the calories coming from fat would be prohibited.

The push for healthier food is receiving strong support from local health experts.

“The food that students eat at school can be a big part of their intake,” said Dr. Laura Scharf, a pediatrician at Quincy Pediatrics Associates.

People choose the easiest and closest things to eat, so eliminating the temptation of soda and junk food would make children more likely to eat and drink the healthier alternatives, she said.

“I hope they see the healthier choices and see it as the easier option, instead of going across the street to the 7-Eleven,” Scharf said.

Public schools are a familiar target for the Legislature when it comes to battling childhood obesity. School districts across the South Shore have recently begun implementing legislation passed last year that requires schools to measure every student’s body mass index, or BMI, and report it to parents.

But when it comes to making healthy food a priority, some local districts say they’re already meeting many, if not all, of the requirements in the pending nutrition bill.

In Rockland, for example, the school system in 2008 adopted a wellness policy that says all meals and food must meet requirements set by the USDA for Federal School Meals Programs.

“Our fundraising has changed a bit,” said Assistant Superintendent Doric Scarpelli, who recalled popular sales of M&M’s on campus, “No more candy sales for fundraising.”

Still, Scarpelli said he does not think legislating statewide standards is necessary.

“My understanding is that every district is supposed to have a wellness policy,” he said. “For the state to dictate a one-size-fits-all approach, it doesn’t really work. Some districts are very strict, and some, like ours, are based more on common sense.”

Jacqueline Morgan, director of food service for the Milton school system, said the town has met the bill’s proposed mandates for 10 years.

Among the initiatives taken by Milton is a program that brings in visiting chefs to teach food-service personnel new, healthy recipes.

“It’s just nice to hear that children all over Massachusetts will now have the opportunity to eat healthy,” Morgan said.

Courtney Hernandez, senior nutritionist at Sensible Nutrition, a nutrition consulting company in Hingham, said some schools might be caught in a difficult situation.

“A lot of schools are trying to see healthier lunches, but the healthier lunches don’t sell as well,” Hernandez said.

Valerie Bassett, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, said she has not found that schools with nutrition policies have lost any money because of it.

Although the state ranked second in adult health in a 2009 study, it ranks 30th when it comes to children’s health, Bassett said.

The Patriot Ledger State House Bureau

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